my neighbor's dog jude. she's an old girl, so it was nice to see her moving around with so much energy here. if you look close she's actually staring down a mosquito.

no ai here, i just happen to be a real photographer. i did ,however, edit out a little stream of snot that was flying out of her nose. for her dignity...

for those interested:

camera: sony a7siii

lens: tamron 70-180 f:2.8 g1 - that's the first gen of that model. just as good as any first party 70-200 for 90% of use cases, but a quarter the price. I also love the flair characteristics of this lens, which are on full display here.

1/1250, f/2.8, iso 160, 126mm

-I wanted that big dreamy bokeh on this so i needed the 2.8 aperture, the rest is just to make it dark enough. I technically should have lowered my iso further, but at this range on this camera it hardly matters.

was dog sitting for my parents and just got a new lens for my camera. a leica elmarit-r 135 2.8 if you're curious. ruka is old and losing her sights and sounds. reminds me of how old I'm getting given that they didn't get her until just before i moved out.

she gets confused when I get on the floor but not to pet her. this lens needs her to be 1.5 meters aways to focus, so it took a minute to catch her settled in like this. but she's laying on her favorite bed waiting for her dad to get home and give her some of her favorite treats like he always does with dinner. instead tonight i gave her some treats for siting nice for me in this picture.

she's a real sweetheart. the only struggle was how much she still wanted to climb in my lap and get her belly rubbed like we used to. unfortunately she's to old and achey for that now. any time she tries she ends up hurting herself in the attempt.

time comes for us all, great and small. go love your pets and parents before it's too late.

one of the three cats I was watching at my friend's house while he and his partner were away last week.

rocky was hard to get a good shot of the whole time I was there. the largest of the three, he likes to keep the house in order.... from a distance. he wouldn't let me get close with the camera. always watching me, but from just around a corner like he is here. I think maybe the curtain helped him feel better about my camera trying to steal his soul.

a real sweetheart when he felt like it, but that camera really seemed to put him off. funny thing, despite being the largest, he had the softest/highest meow.

my parent's old dog ruka. she lost her eye as a very young puppy before we ever met her, but she gets on fine without it.

she can catch balls out of the air no problem, but cant find them 3 inches from her face once they hit the ground. never quite understood that. she's old and tired now, with achy joints and bad hearing. she didn't want to spend much time outside today with all this heat. i make sure to give her all the belly rubs she can handle every time I see her.

was house sitting for a friend and his 3 cats. he left a pair of his pants out for his old boy to nap on while he was away.

tragically I forgot to set my camera to silent shutter mode before taking this picture. in capturing this coziness I ruined it by startling him awake 😢.

shot on Sony a7siii with an Olympus om 300mm f4.5 adapted.

I don't remember exactly where this was. somewhere in Colorado. not too far from Denver. Love this old manual focus 300mm though. it's one of my favorites whenever I think I can get away with it. it sits in my bag more than I'd like though. it's a hard focal length to justify when i have a 150-500 right there. most of the subjects I'd shoot with it would just be better captured at 500mm. wicked sharp with lovely bokeh and shockingly nice contrast and flair control for an older telephoto.

if you're cool with manual focus and looking for a very nice 300mm for cheap. this is a great get. i got mine for just over $100 from a local camera store. I'm sure it could be had for less.

shot on Sony a7siii with an Olympus zuiko 50mm 1.8 adapted.

the rain was really coming down, so part of the glowyness was from a wet front element.

this was with an older manual 50mm. it's honestly become my primary wedding video lens. it has just the right amount of glowy highlights to add a real dreamy feel to it while staying sharp and contrasty away from the edges of the highlights. perfect for the 4k 120p dance montage.

i wonder if I might have done better closing the aperture all the way down here. keep the details on the sign sharp. it would still have loads of subject isolation.

Sony a7siii with a tamron 150-500.

was out shooting some wildlife video and just needed to find a shot of this storm rolling in through the sunset. it's not the best framing, but sometimes it's really all about capturing the light. when shooting nature you do what you can from where you can. if i had tried to chase a better angle i would've missed it.

Luka likes to bury her face into my hand sometimes. it's the best.

this feels like a meme format, but I don't know what it would say.

her name is alluka and you can see the royal quality of her countenance at first gaze. be grateful to witness her.

stopped by my favorite birding spot after work and had these fellas fly in over my head. guest appearance by a great blue heron.

shot on sony a7siii with a tamron 150-500. all handheld and after the sun was behind the mountains, so you'll have to excuse some shakiness and focus issues.

music: creep - original song by Radiohead - performed by scott bradlee's post modern jukebox.

shot on a7siii with a nikon Ai-s 28mm f/2.0

I'm sick as hell right now and this pulled up right outside my front door last night. stepped out to take a picture because nothing felt real for a moment. then i started coughing and kind of regretted it. worth it?

took this riding into Milwaukee the other day when it was foggy as hell over like a third of the county...